Hello Friends and Shareholders,

Yes, it is March.  But, soon it will be mid-March, the days getting longer, encouraging warmth and sending earnest thrumming through the soils and roots of plants.  Life is speeding up for your seedlings, too.  They have moved into the greenhouse, a modest 8'x20' shelter that will be their world for a few weeks.  Broccoli, kale, onions, leeks, lettuces, beets, spinach and soon mustards will join them as well.  The peppers are growing very well, but still need the protection of the heating mats and grow lights in our basement.  The tomato seeds have been whispering to me, in my dreams.  I toss and turn, trying to explain that it is too early, too much work to try to keep them warm until May, that they would outgrow their pots if I planted them now.  Still, they persist, soft images of green vines, little yellow flowers, fruits of many colors.  They are central to our gardens, and almost everyone I know has tried their hand at raising them.  Tomatoes are the standard bearers of our beds.  They have more character than any other vegetable.  And, as growers, we seek out, amidst the thousands of cultivars of tomatoes, that one which could be our lifelong mate.  The one cultivar we can grow without qualms or fear of failure, the one about which we can tell stories to our grandchildren (or neighbors).  With tomatoes, like not other crop, I have gone through countless cultivars, felt immense disappointment, been filled with amaze, and have been very bemused.  I have over 30 cultivars to trial this year, let alone the ones I feel confident about (I seem to have best luck (dare I say skill?) with golden tomatoes) such as Large German, Wild Mexican,  and The Earl.  I have not planted one tomato seed yet.  But the pressure is mounting.  Experience is giving in to emotion, and soon the tomatoes will have their way with me.  They will be sown, the first step in season long relationship that will take us high and low, but is worth every day (well, at least it seems so in reflective March).

 

Everything is growing well.  Soil moisture is abundant, the climate is cooperating for now, and the sun has been very welcome.  Keep dreams of spring growing in your hearts, and soon they will be before your waking eyes.

 

Also, anyone who is not on our egg-list, who would like eggs, please let us know.  We are dropping them off on Friday mornings for all-day, drop-in pick up at Lucille's House (that should be capitalized, though her Porch is where the eggs are).

 

All the best to you most peaceful and progressive people of Bloomington and County Brown.

Keith, Aimee, Jon and Christina

 

 

Old Growth CSA